Soon after arrival, we met Steve, the local Municipal Liason(ML) for NaNoWriMo. Thanks for all you do, Steve! There were four other NaNoWriMoers (is that a word?) working on their work in progress. Neighbor Girl signed in and charted her progress so far.

Got Our Fuel

Yum! We purchased our yummy beverages at the Cafe.

Working

This is where we thank Neighbor Girl for allowing us to continue our adventures. She worked diligently throughout the day. Way to go, Neighbor Girl!

We hit 42% of our word count. Considering we began at 17%, and wrote over 2300 words today alone, we are feeling better about reaching our month's goal. After writing so many words in one day, less than 400 for the days ahead should seem like a piece of cake. Of course, we couldn't leave there without purchasing a book. Neighbor Girl's fun choice:

You may listen to the live official WOW announcement broadcast each Monday at 7:20AM on WEEU 830AM from "The voice of Berks County and Beyond." Links to broadcasts may be found on the Muhlenberg School District website. Click here to go there.

Now tell us, how will you use the word deluge this week? Have you seen it used anywhere? Is your school using these words? What fun activities do you have for the word? I want to know and so do my friends - please share your creations and let us know if you are using our printables - that makes us happy!

If you and/or your family completes an activity, we would love to see a picture of it, or hear all about it. You may do this in the comments below; on our Facebook page; on Twitter (use the hashtag #kidlitwow); pinterest; Google+ - truly, anywhere you want to tell the world with gusto!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Book Blasty Tour Status We are at the half-way point on our Book Blasty Tour. Our paws are super happy,and dancing like crazy over the thoughtful feedback we are receiving about our book. We are having a great time visiting with our tour hosts and their blogs all over the world. Cool Mom decided to have some fun by creating a clickable map of our blog tour stops. Thanks, Cool Mom! Check it out for a fun way to visit with the hosts who have posted to date (we'll be adding the other stops as our tour continues).

For those who follow our blog regularly, remember the amazing artist Matt Phelan, who wrote Bluffton? He told us about a writing contest just for kids 8 to 12 years old, and we want to share it with you.

Yay! We are happy to be a stop along the The SockKids™ Meet Lincoln Blog Tour. In this post you will find a summary of the book, Cool Mom's review of the book and information about the authors. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to enter the Giveaway with 3 Grand Prize winners, who will each get a $25 Amazon gift card (or PayPal cash) + a SockKids™ t-shirt. There are additional prizes as well. See all of the fun details below, and take some time to check out the other great tour stop hosts while you are here. Thanks for visiting!

~ Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge

About the Book

Title: The SockKids™ Meet Lincoln

Authors: Michael John Sullivan and Susan
Petrone

Illustrator: SugarSnail

Publication Date: August 14, 2013

Publisher: Independent

Pages: 40 (print)

Recommended Age: 3 to 8

Summary (Amazon): Where do our missing socks go? Readers find out in our children’s series, The
SOCKKIDS. We follow the Socker family through many adventures; from encountering the
slobbery mouth of the family dog to meeting Santa as he comes down the chimney on Christmas
Eve to helping a fireman save a baby to the most shy Socker going to the school dance for the
first time. Thanks to the time-travel opportunities afforded by the spin cycle of the washer, they
learn about some of the most important humans in the world. Children two and up and their
parents will be drawn to the diversity of the family and the universal and timeless lessons they
teach: don’t be afraid of new experiences; treat others as you would like to be treated, and of
course, beware of the spin cycle!

Cool Mom's Review

High level, this series is about time traveling socks.

I'll be honest, I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. Upon finishing, I thought, "That was cute and educational." My ten-year-old daughter had the same opinion of the book.

The fact that I am still a homeschooling mother at heart, helped me to see the high value of this book. When Stretch, the sock, takes a journey back in time to President Lincoln's foot, there are more than a few topics that can be launched off of this adventure:

This book is an extremely quick read. It contains bright, fun and colorful pictures. The SockKids™ Meet Lincoln would be great for early elementary kids and younger as a fun way to introduce President Lincoln to a young child. Keeping the age range in mind, I think the book is perfect.

Purchase

The Buzz From Others

"I love the creativity of the story as well as the many lessons
that can be discussed after reading this, including President Lincoln and what he stood for. (I
enjoy books that allow you to start a dialog with children who read them, and this book does not
disappoint.) The book is easy to read, which makes it appealing because children can read it with
an adult or on their own. I even giggled a few times while reading this, and any story that can
put a smile on someone's face has my approval!." ~ 5-Star
Review from ksen, Amazon

"This is an adorable story with a wonderful message. I loved the
illustrations, so colorful, every child will love these pictures and love this story. We all have lost
socks in the washing machine and how cute to picture them talking to each other. I also loved the
journey to Lincoln and how it didn't matter to him what color the socks were, his didn't match, a
hidden message which you will have to read the story to find out what all that means. I hope to
see many other wonderful sockkids adventures from Mr. Sullivan. I would give this more than
5 stars!" ~ 5-Star review from Cynthia A. Springsteen, Amazon

About The Authors: Michael John Sullivan & Susan Petrone

Michael John Sullivan is the creator of
the SockKids. Constantly searching for his socks, he wondered
whether the missing foot comforters had found another pair of feet to warm. Before his interest
in socks, Sullivan started writing his first novel while homeless, riding a NYC subway train at
night. Sullivan returned to his subway notes in 2007 and began writing Necessary
Heartbreak: A Novel of Faith and Forgiveness (Simon & Schuster,
Gallery Books imprint). Library Journal named Necessary Heartbreak one of the year’s best in
2010. His second novel, Everybody’s Daughter (Fiction Studio
Books, 2012) was named one of the best books of 2012 by TheExaminer.com. Sullivan has
written articles about the plight of homelessness for CNN.com, The Washington Post.com,
Beliefnet.com, the Huffington Post, and America Online’s Patch.com service.

Susan Petrone’s short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, Featherproof Books, The Cleveland Review, Muse, Conclave, and Whiskey Island. Her first novel, A Body at Rest, was published in 2009 (Drinian Press). Her short story, Monster Jones Wants to Creep You Out (Conclave,2010) was nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize. She also writes about her beloved Cleveland Indians at ItsPronouncedLajaway.com for ESPN.com’s SweetSpot network. In addition, she is a regular contributor to Cool Cleveland.com.

Susan Petrone’s short fiction has been
published by Glimmer Train, Featherproof Books, The Cleveland Review, Muse, Conclave, and
Whiskey Island. Her first novel, A Body at Rest, was published
in 2009 (Drinian Press). Her short story, Monster Jones Wants to Creep You
Out (Conclave,2010) was nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize. She also writes
about her beloved Cleveland Indians at ItsPronouncedLajaway.com for ESPN.com’s SweetSpot
network. In addition, she is a regular contributor to Cool Cleveland.com.

*** The SockKids™ Meet Lincoln Blog Tour Giveaway ***

Prize: There will be 3 Grand Prize Winners each consisting of a $25 Amazon gift card (or PayPal cash) + a SockKids t-shirt. There will also be three secondary prizes consisting of a SockKids t-shirt. Contest runs: November 5 to December 2, 11:59 pm, 2013 Open: Worldwide How to enter: Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. The Grand Prize winner and secondary winners will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winners will then have 72 hours to respond. If a winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by the authors Michael John Sullivan and Susan Petrone and is hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions - feel free to send and email to Renee(at) MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Poem? Story? Haiku? Question? What does this picture bring to your mind?
Write it below in the comments and have an amazing day!

A special thanks to Snuffles, the hamster, for assisting us with our writing prompts.We participate routinely in the following Wordless Wednesday Blog Hops.
We encourage you to visit them as well.
Thank you to all of the fabulous hosts!

Monday, November 11, 2013

This is the incredibly talented, Matt Phelan. He illustrated/authored the beautiful graphic-novel , Bluffton. Bluffton illustrates a story about three summers in the life of a young Buster Keaton as seen through the eyes of a fictional summer friend.

Mr. Phelan's session was educational, interesting and entertaining. At question time, Neighbor Girl wanted to know: "When you paint your illustrations, do you have a full page for each painting or do you paint the pages as they are in the book?" His answer: He paints each page exactly the way it will be in the book. Very interesting. Neighbor Girl had wanted to attend his illustration class as well, but it was at the same time as Chris Grabentein's session. These are extremely difficult choices for a young author.

When it came time for Mr. Phelan to sign her copy of his book, he remembered her question, and told her that he thought it was a great one. He then asked her about us (Stanley & Katrina)! He took the time to talk with her, and encouraged her tremendously. When he was offered a copy of our book, he accepted with excitement, asked Neighbor Girl to sign the book, and then took this great picture (above) with her.

This is a good man. Cool Mom says so and we pretty much take her word for it. Oh, and guess what? Bluffton is an excellent book! Erik was absolutely right, "Mr. Matt Phelan's story-telling through illustrations is incredible!"

Neighbor Girl read Bluffton upon arriving home, and told Cool Mom repeatedly, "It is really good, you need to read it." One day later,and both are in agreement. Which means that this dog and cat are able to recommend it highly.

Oh, we must go now...Neighbor Girl is telling us that it is time to watch a Buster Keaton movie.

Hmmm...NaNoWriMo YWP is falling a bit behind but we are planning a fun write-in/travel session on Saturday. We'll see if we are able to catch up.

Thank you for reading and sharing,

Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge (and Stanley)Disclosure: We purchased a copy of Bluffton. We received no monetary or in-kind compensation for our honest review. This post does NOT contain affiliate links.

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Thank you for visiting our online home. We are Stanley and Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge, a cat and dog author team. We know you are busy and thank you for taking time to visit our site. We appreciate you!